An unimportant incident can make your day
What is making your day today?

Mubasir Raji *

Seemingly unimportant incident can make your day; I ask a lady to lend her pen, but to my surprised, she alleged that everybody borrowed pen from her. She call me "Tamocha" just to tease me (Tamocha is a beautiful Manipuri word for elder brother), she is not in any way younger than me and that's made my day; I smile all the way to wherever I go. She sounds so sweet Tamochaah! Tamocha! Tamocha!

Whenever people treat me with love and unusual care, I became so defenseless, sometimes to the extent of nervousness. I literally behave like a rabbit. Normally I'm supposed to be loud and chatty even to the extent of being aggressive. But what I'm supposed to do with my aggression, when people don't give me chance to be one? I lose steam! These are thought running in my mind the entire day.

The effect of that dear lady is that I smile inwardly to wherever I go. Whether I'm in book store or at coffee bar, it was hard time refraining myself from smiling. I have to curb my smile unless people take it as an erratic behavior.

It was a very fine day; I take liberal stand on every conversation I got engage. I treated gently to every person I talked; not willing to let lose my good mood. Good mood continues until the evening time when four friends visited me, over a cup of lemon tea and bora, we have a lively discussion over many national and international issues.

A doctor friend was there, a very sharp fellow; he dissects every issue with clinical accuracy. He asks me do I ever happen to write about doctors and medical profession. I jokingly said I once wrote an article about doctors and civil servants for which I got some brickbats. They force me to recollect an old article, which I have written sometimes back.

As I recount that article and how people reacted, I put my hand over the shoulder of another friend who is a civil service aspirant, quite a meditative fellow who steer and moderated the entire conversation with insightful observation.

The extract of the said article is somewhat like I'm reproducing here;

"A society needs doctor, engineer, teacher, writer, management graduate and many others. A society never needs crooks and thugs, who work hard to achieve, what they are. People work so hard to become a doctor, engineer, IAS officer and what not.

When people fail to achieve what they aspire to, they are broken and felt useless. After achieving their dream job, after becoming a doctor what? The same doctor suddenly started expecting gift from drugs manufacturing company (through so call medical representatives etc.). After becoming an IPS officer what? Involve in a nexus with drug Mafia and become a crorepati? And after becoming an IAS officer what? New flats, cars and what not!

Indian bureaucracy is famous for what? It is very famous for corruption. Bye the byes, Civil Services were earlier called covenanted civil services. Civil services were meant for superior race (our colonial masters) young European and British graduates.

For very long time it was mandatory to go England to appear the examination, and age limit was fixed at twenty one years; just to keep the Indian candidates' out of these covenanted civil services. The British have gone a long time back but the hangover is still there and that is where the aura of civil services comes from.

People still consider people who clear civil services to be some superior race and to their credit government still provide enough perks and facilities. Some people who clear civil services examination also believe and act as if they were some superior type (no doubt there are some upright and humble ones also).

Go to any government hospital and see the doctors there, how they behave. They will treat you like beggars who can't afford private hospitals (with no malaise to the profession)! We need to set our ideals right first. Becoming doctor is no big deal, what matters is, what one do after becoming a doctor? What one does for the society after becoming doctor, engineer, IAS officer etc.? Any other things are personal achievement and need be look from that perspective.

These same civil servants, will turn to politics after retirement, they will not hesitate to join hands even with some religious bigoted political party (non-secular) and like. The biggest problem of our society is we do appeasement a lot. We never criticize corrupt people.

People even make friend with goons and thugs, only to get some benefit. So everyone is going their own way, never bothering about society where they come from. Doctors, will support the policemen, policemen will support the politicians and politicians will support the goons and vice-versa. The people who are neither a politician nor a policeman and neither have any link to the higher up; have no hope in this society!

The nexus have become such a big monster that even when frauds and corrupt practices come out openly people have no guts to go against them. We have to find ways to comes out of this vicious cycle. Otherwise we are doomed to tryst with a rotten destiny."

This is the extract. The article was written sometimes back and I'm not this much vigorous these days.

My doctor friend asks me a series of questions, all of which I replied in positive. He observed that medical profession have been the subject of some unfounded criticism of late. Truly he tore me apart, he unloose a series of sketching attack over me.

I was defenseless. He went on to recount the many incidents of deaths for which doctors have been at the receiving end. He said how friends and relatives of patients got enraged sometimes unreasonably. I said I agree.

As they were leaving, my doctor friend said "there might have been some unwanted incidents but nobody wanted to make intentional mistakes and risk their career. We need to believe in the intentional sincerity of doctors, they are there to serve the people."